I find something very odd about this - if there's an infection in the bone, it's not elective to address it! Why is it not being managed by public system in the same way that his initial presentation was?

One of those rare instances you wish they had looked at Chocky for their info... if nothing else to praise VWills' selfless actions! ~> "A woman who saw him fall came and sat by him as they waited for more than three hours for a rescue team to arrive"
Doesn't quite describe the effort she went to does it?

>So who was belaying ?

According to his notes a friend called Sean Kop who he had climbed SD with previously:

On 22/10/2013 Dont_trust_anyone wrote:> The guys name is sean kop and I would not recommend climbing with>this man.
+>Sweet Dreams is a easy climb with choice of an easy or hard finish. I Have climbed this climb 3 times before and know the route very well Sean has also climbed the route before with myself.

Best of luck to the climber. Sounds like a horrible ordeal. I'll chip in a bit.

The news article mentioned that the insurance claim was rejected. This is something that I haven't thought of. It would be good to know who the health insurer is. I'm going to go read the fine print on mine now to see if there is anything about this.

Has anyone else had any issues making claims on their private insurance for climbing injuries?

That's another weird thing about this - if he has full hospital insurance, as long as it's not claimable under tac or workcover, they should pay it. I feel like there's some missing details as to why it is not covered under either public health cover or his insurance.

On 24/10/2013 Wendy wrote:>...I feel like there's some missing details as to why it is not covered under>either public health cover or his insurance.

As well as some vital missing details of the incident itself, leading to speculation and doubt which may or may not be justified.

It's also worth noting that the ninemsn webpage listed above has now been taken down (I managed to view it earlier today before it was removed.)

I hope that the unfortunate individual returns to clarify these details, as at the moment it's coming across as a pretty shifty incident overall, rather than an unfortunate tragedy we can sympathise with, recovery we can support, and lessons we can learn.

I also find it odd that his insurance and public system won't cover the necessary surgery to save his foot.

I do believe his indiegogo blurb states his income protection claim was denied and that he is "crowd sourcing funds to pay for vital surgery as well as the prosthetics in the event that the leg is removed."

Whatever the issue, I hope Dan gets the necessary support/treatment to save his foot.

I'm still interested in learning exactly what went wrong with the belay. How does one go about dropping your second ~30m? Was it a hip belay? Failed anchor?

On 24/10/2013 Cams wrote:
...SNIP...>The news article mentioned that the insurance claim was rejected. This>is something that I haven't thought of. It would be good to know who the>health insurer is. I'm going to go read the fine print on mine now to see>if there is anything about this. >>Has anyone else had any issues making claims on their private insurance>for climbing injuries?

All private health insurance policies/companies in Australia are governed by the PHI act. Private insurance providers cannot discriminate against an individual for any reason because of a clause called Community Rating, the definition of which is below;

Community Rating - "Private health insurance premiums are not risk rated like other forms of insurance, so that all consumers pay the same premiums as others for the same policy, regardless of their age or health status. As set out in the Private Health Insurance Act 2007, to ensure that everybody who chooses has access to health insurance, the principle of community rating prevents private health insurers from discriminating between people of the basis of their health or for any other reason."

This means they have to cover you regardless of your leisure activities and number of times you make a claim.

I spent 7 years working for a major Australian health provider and from memory (I may be misremembering) in order to make a claim the procedure needs to be covered by the MBS, or Medical Benefits Scheme, which is list of covered procedures and their "recommended retail" price. If a procedure is not on the MBS it is usually not covered by a health insurance policy though may be covered by elective surgery.

The OP stated on the fund-raising page that his *income protection* insurance claim was denied, *not* health insurance. The former is risk rated and, depending on the policy, may exclude dangerous activities. When I had such insurance several years ago (I now self-insure because it was so expensive) they told me that they would not exclude accidents caused by such activities as climbing, aviation, motorcycling etc as long as I was not doing it professionally. Other insurers may differ in their view.

Treatment under the public system is free. The issue, and I don't know if it's relevant here, is the quality of treatment. If you aren't happy with the treatment you cannot demand to see the doctor of your choice unless you opt to go private. Once you go private you are immediately up for gap fees which can easily mount up. You could well be out over a thousand dollars on a single operation with surgeon, anaesthetist and assistants fees. And if you're up for multiple operations...

I had a whole stack of treatment under the NSW public system after my accident in 1997. Femur fixation (and removal 3 years later), multiple plates in my mandible and maxilla, bunch of dental work, plastic surgery for the tear through my lip to my nostril. Multiple days in ICU. I had no complaints about the quality of public health care.

On 24/10/2013 Wendy wrote:>I had a whole stack of treatment under the NSW public system after my accident>in 1997. Femur fixation (and removal 3 years later), multiple plates in>my mandible and maxilla, bunch of dental work, plastic surgery for the>tear through my lip to my nostril. Multiple days in ICU. I had no complaints>about the quality of public health care.

public health system is good if its an emergency and if you don't fit into the "elective surgery" category. I have just had my ACL replaced and also decided to get a broken sesamoid removed from my foot too, Waiting list was 2-3 years for my surgery on the public system but 3 weeks on the private system, has cost me thousands but i need to be able to use my knee for work so was in a catch-22

On 24/10/2013 Wendy wrote:>I had no complaints>about the quality of public health care.
Public health care is excellent, especially for emergencies, but stuff-ups happen in any system. It may even be just a personality clash with the assigned doctor that gives you no confidence in what is happening and there may not be an option to change to another doctor.

>>public health system is good if its an emergency and if you don't fit>into the "elective surgery" category. I have just had my ACL replaced and>also decided to get a broken sesamoid removed from my foot too, Waiting>list was 2-3 years for my surgery on the public system but 3 weeks on the>private system, has cost me thousands but i need to be able to use my knee>for work so was in a catch-22

I'm well aware of the "elective" problem being the proud owner of a $10000 shoulder now. I find it hard to believe that treating a major bone infection is elective. And i find brief, badly written posts asking for money, failing to answer questions and disappearing webpages also questionable, although he did offer Vanessa's gear back.

Ease up Wendy. We probably all find it strange, however I'd imagine I'd have trouble operating in a usual manner if I'd been as f#cked up as this fella and then learned that I'm probably gonna lose my foot at the end of it all. Put it into perspective.

Well apart from it being a bit fishy, the reason he can't get it fixed in the public system may be that he is not an aussie national. Do we have any real details on his partner or is he known in the Sydney scene?

If its true, I hope he doesn't loose his foot - must be excruciating at the moment.